Florida man smothers 6 year old while playing video game

[davidn3600]

Authorities in Sarasota, Florida arrested a 31-year-old man for allegedly using his body weight to smother his six-year-old son to death on Dec. 24, WFLA-TV reported.

James Dearman was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child in connection with the boy’s death. Investigators said the suspect’s other son demonstrated how Dearman used his 270-pound frame to pin the victim against a couch, saying, “When dad squished him, he got dead.”

“There’s not a detective or anybody who isn’t pretty upset about this and finds it egregious and malicious, the treatment of a six-year-old child,” Sheriff’s Department Captain John Walsh said.

Investigators said the incident started when Dearman and his girlfriend, Ashley Cole, told the two boys to go to bed in their bedroom around 7:30 pm that night. When the children refused, Dearman ordered them to stand facing their wall.

Cole told authorities that Dearman later caught the victim watching the couple play video games, prompting the suspect to force the boy to lie on the couch on his side while facing the rear cushions. At that point, she said, Dearman pinned the boy against the cushions, and ignored him when he yelled that he could not breathe. Five minutes later, the boy became motionless.

Instead of attending to him, however, Cole and the suspect left the room to smoke cigarettes in their garage. When they returned 10 minutes later, Cole noticed that the boy was not breathing, then ran back to the garage to pray while Dearman called 911 and tried to perform CPR. Paramedics later took the boy to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/florida-man-fatally-smothers-young-son-while-playing-video-game-then-goes-out-to-smoke/

[arcane1]

1. "then ran back to the garage to pray"

How did that go?

[2naSalit]

8. My response to taht one

[Iggo]

12. How did that go? Like it always goes.

[Lizzie Poppet]

44. Nothing fails like prayer.

[malaise]

22. That hit me like a ton of bricks

They can pray in prison - fuck them

[RKP5637]

38. Yet another WTF. Maybe they should think more and pray less. n/t

[catnhatnh]

39. Do you have any idea...

How hard it is to get second hand prayer out of the furnishings?

[TexasBushwhacker]

40. He called 911

SHE went to the garage to pray (or dump the drugs).

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

2. Meth. Breakfast of Idiots (And Florida Man!) n/m

[rjsquirrel]

3. All I needed was "video games"

That is the true opiate of the idiocracy.

I find adults who play such games very curious.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

4. Good for you

We all have our broad brushes to bear.

[Humanist_Activist]

5. That's makes no sense, the average age of a video gamer is about the age of 30, video games are...

mainstream and that age is actually increasing as the people who played video games as kids grow up.

Its no more unusual than playing board or card games, or watching TV, or any numerous other hobbies that exist out there.

[Ed Suspicious]

6. Wow.

[Nye Bevan]

9. I've been known to play Flappy Bird. And iPhone Scrabble.

Does that make me "curious"?

[Initech]

10. I play GTA V and Fallout 4. Does that make me a bad person?

[rjsquirrel]

23. It means you are eating brain cells

It's like watching sitcoms or eating junk food for the mind.

Those games teach violence and GTA is racist as hell.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. Can you give a citation for 'eats brain cells'? That sounds really science-y!

Or like puritan bullshit. So cite?

[Human101948]

32. Depends on what games your are playing...

10 Ways Gaming Can Help or Harm Your Brain

Are the effects of gaming harmful? According to experts, it depends.

In 2011, American Academy of Pediatrics published a study that found that depression, anxiety, and poor grades in school may be the result of too much gaming.
According to psychologist C. Shawn Green, in the same way we learn to read, use a map or play the piano, video games can and do change the actual physical structure of our brains. Green likens this to exercising in order to build muscles.
Based on a Queensland University study, playing video games is a better option than TV for young children.
Is there a right or wrong answer? No one seems sure. Despite pressure from numerous groups and the medical community debate that rages on, the gaming industry continues to disagree with those who cast a negative light on the issue.

--more--

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-lowery/gaming-health_b_4981076.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Amazing broad brush you got right there

[romanic]

13. I'm almost 30 and I play video games.

I also work 40-50 hours a week, run errands and pay bills, take care of my physically disabled dad whenever I can, and volunteer my time at a local homeless shelter three times a month. I'm far from an idiot as are many adult gamers.

[Skittles]

14. it's not the playing of video games adults I find disturbing

it's those who are REALLY.INTO.IT that are freaking pitiful

[rjsquirrel]

21. That's what I meant

And the violence. It's so gross.

To me that shit is for teenagers.

I've been hacking since the 1980s. I've known lots of gamers.

[Katashi_itto]

41. 45 and an avid video gamer.

I own my own rather profitable company and hold several degrees.

So being REALLY into video games, (Fallout 4 right now) makes me pitiful....Ok I see I see the logic there.

[chalmers]

46. So playing video games led to your "success"?

there are plenty of people who are meth addicts who are also business owners. whats your point?

[Katashi_itto]

47. Whats your point? Let me refer us back to what you just said

Last edited Sat Jan 2, 2016, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

"it's not the playing of video games adults I find disturbing

it's those who are REALLY.INTO.IT that are freaking pitiful"

Plus, cite some numbers about these vast numbers of Meth using CEO's please.

As for your question. Since I do commercials and now finishing my first feature length movie. I would have to say yes.

Video games have helped me.

I always am aware of good story flow in a game and am fascinated by how it's properly or improperly pulled off.

[justiceischeap]

15. 44 and a video gamer

I'm no idiot that's for sure and I bet my hand/eye coordination will be better than most when I get older.

I really, really enjoy killing "things" in video games to relieve stress. Does that make me curious or smart for spending so little on therapy?

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Yeah, well, all I needed was "ran back to the garage to pray"

surely you realize that both stupidity and shitty parenting predate the xbox.

[NutmegYankee]

19. I'm 35 and been a gamer all of my life.

I do PC gaming only (no consoles). I work as an engineer and pull in a 6 figure income, hardly the story of an idiot.

[rjsquirrel]

20. lol

I rest my case!

[Bluenorthwest]

28. You made no case. I think the part where they go back to the garage to pray is what shows

they are mindless and cruel and of course, deluded. I think that part makes you uncomfortable as a faith based judge of others.

[rjsquirrel]

30. Huh?

faith based what now? I have no opinion on their "faith" except lol whut? I hope their deity is a forgiving one. I doubt He exists.

No, I'm talking about how mentally vacant they appear to be, as evidence that parents who play video games while sitting on their children until they die are bad people.

[exboyfil]

31. My brother in law

plays them. He also has a Harvard PhD in Biochemistry, his dissertation was the top one of his year, he had an article of the cover of Science, he is currently leading a team of researchers on new antibiotics, he is married to the music director of a large church, his daughter has a great shot at getting into a Julliard graduate program for flute performance, and his son is an All State musician looking at going into Pharmacy.

I don't play them, but many do it for a hobby. I am not sure you could find a more well adjusted person than my brother in law.

[rjsquirrel]

35. Funny

I have a phd in a related field from an equally august institution, and I've never played computer games.

Ask your bro in law about canons of evidence and inference, correlation and causation, and statistical significance. 🙂🙂🙂🙂

Obviously "video games" covers too broad a territory. I apologize for offending.

But when I see grownup people spending hours at an Xbox or watching reality TV I worry about our future. These are solipsistic, alienating activities that appeal to a hunger for fantasy and escape. I find them politically concerning.

[exboyfil]

36. Maybe it is something about Biochemistry

The older brother of my daughter's best friend is also a video gamer and is working on his doctorate at UW Madison.

I do agree with your sentiments in general about people who spend a significant chunk of their free time on any activity (whether it is watching sports, chatting/posting on the internet, binging Netflix, or playing video games). I don't think video games per se are a problem. I have never been interested in them after I hit my 20s, but I can see the attraction for some people who have high stress jobs. I personally binge watch shows while rowing which is my stress reliever. I could visualize in the future as technology advances actual hand weapon type games with simulated swords and what not with EM resistance that would allow for a good work out while playing the game. Safer than beating on someone else with weapons.

I agree with you about reality television. You lose brain cells by merely being in the room when they are on. When my wife turns them or soaps on, my first reaction is to run from the living room.

[tabasco]

42. FWIW, I agree with you

The strident defense of this avocation is an indicator of how deeply ingrained it has become.

[Lizzie Poppet]

45. No strong correlation, IMO.

I have a phd in a related field from an equally august institution, and I've never played computer games.

PhD from an Ivy here (and I do philosophy of science for a living, actually)...avid gamer. I have zero doubt there are countless examples on either side of the gamer/non-gamer divide. Given the difficulty in performing an empirically rigorous reduction of confounding causal factors (of which there are a metric fuck-ton in a complex psychological matter like this), it's hard even to establish true correlation, to say nothing of asserting that gaming has any particular causal relationship to academic success at a high level.

I do, however, share your view of the effect of mindless entertainment in general. Or, to be more specific, the effect of overindulgence in mindless entertainment, which I suspect was your core point. The political implication lies in the area of the effect of a disconnected, broadly ignorant electorate on the proper function of democracy. Combined with the tremendous influence over political decisions that economic desperation possesses, and 24/7 fear-mongering in the media, we have in place a perfect formula for keeping the working masses pliable. I hate to sound like a tinfoil hat wearer, but I'm by no means convinced that's entirely coincidental.

[Facility Inspector]

43. yup, i go to the bible when confronted with grown people playing with toys:

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11

[Omaha Steve]

7. .

K no R.

OS

[TexasTowelie]

16. Florida man strikes again.

Last edited Sat Jan 2, 2016, 09:48 AM - Edit history (1)

[Kalidurga]

18. See this is why child abuse is such a terrible problem.

It is not taken seriously. He murdered his kid. It wasn't manslaughter at all it was premeditated murder. You could argue he wasn't actually trying to kill the kid, but he went to the garage and smoked a cigarette when the child was motionless, wtf did they think that was a good sign he wasn't dead? Nope, they pretty much have to have known there was a serious problem and didn't f'n care.

[exboyfil]

34. Just learned that one from Cleveland cops

who let a 12 year old bleed out without doing jack after shooting him.

[HughBeaumont]

24. Oh look, he has two mustaches.

What a surprise.

Fucking pig.

[alphafemale]

37. ...and one eyebrow. nt

[bigwillq]

25. Put in jail, throw away key.

May he rot.

[B Calm]

29. They have some kind of religious shrine in the garage? Another weird Florida story!

[exboyfil]

33. Pray or get rid of the meth

I vote for the latter myself.